SEOUL - Perhaps it is merely basic human desire to keep up with the neighbors, but an increasing number of South Koreans are saying that they want nuclear weapons too. Even in Japan, a country still traumatized by the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is a debate about the once-taboo topic of nuclear weapons. The mere fact that the bomb is being discussed as a policy option shows how North Korea's nuclear program could trigger a new arms race in East Asia, unraveling decades of nonproliferation efforts.

President Kim Young Sam was reportedly determined Monday to decide within 10 days whether to put his predecessor, Roh Tae Woo, on trial for accepting bribes, as a minister in Kim's Cabinet declared that the South Korean people will demand the arrest of the former president.

North Korea threatened Tuesday to withdraw from a 1994 accord with the United States under which it would freeze its suspected nuclear weapons program in exchange for two nuclear reactors. To preserve the agreement, Washington must compensate for the loss of electricity caused by the delay in building the reactors because a power shortage has "created grave difficulties" in North Korea's economy, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

South Korea's economy remains enviably healthy by the standards of most industrialized countries, but Korean officials and business leaders see a less happy picture. Korea's exporters have increasingly been losing markets to lower-cost Asian producers, and this has contributed to slower growth and a rising trade deficit. Partial blame falls on a paternalistic labor law that President Kim Young Sam and his supporters see as a drag on South Korea's economic competitiveness.

A North Korea that for decades posed before the world as the realization of paradise on earth has again been forced to admit it desperately needs food for its 23 million people and must appeal for international help. The United States is among those ready to lend a hand, with President Clinton approving the export of up to 500,000 metric tons of wheat and rice to its old enemy. But Pyongyang's negotiations on a barter deal with the big U.S. grain firm Cargill Inc. have not been easy.

December 18, 2011 | By Barbara Demick and John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the mercurial strongman extolled at home as the "Dear Leader" and reviled abroad as a tyrant, has died at 69, North Korean media reported Monday. Kim's death was announced by state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. No cause of death was reported, but Kim was believed to have suffered in recent years from diabetes and heart disease. The diminutive leader was believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 but nonetheless appeared in numerous photos released by state media as he toured state facilities and in recent months embarked on rare trips outside North Korea -?

Shouldn't we just nuke North Korea now and get it over with? Or, to put it another way, was Douglas MacArthur right, after all? Well, no and no. (Although undoubtedly some will want to argue the MacArthur thing late into the night.) Yes, the Hermit Kingdom is being even crabbier than usual these days. On Tuesday, for example, Pyongyang warned foreigners in South Korea to prepare evacuation plans in case of war. North Korea is also believed preparing to conduct a missile test soon, perhaps as early as Wednesday.

KIGALI, Rwanda - Twenty years ago Monday, the state of Rwanda set about trying to hack itself out of existence. Starting on April 7, 1994, Hutu extremists, in a premeditated 100-day campaign, systematically butchered close to 1 million Tutsis - three-quarters of all those in the country - as well as moderate Hutus, driving countless more into exile. Yet two decades later, Rwanda is very much alive; indeed, in many respects, it's thriving. But it remains a confounding place. Visit the country today and you find a remarkably peaceful and well-ordered land.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Monday denounced economic and democratic reformers as traitors, in an attack that could signal a policy shift or an impending purge in the hard-line Communist state. Kim's unusual public statement followed a report last week by a U.S. defense official that North Korea is forcing thousands of people to attend mass executions in an apparent attempt to quash dissent as the country heads into potential famine this winter.

February 10, 1998 | Tom Plate, Times columnist Tom Plate, who recently returned from a trip to Asia, teaches at UCLA. E-mail: tplate@ucla.edu

It's hard to believe that America is even questioning the need to help South Korea out of its tight spot. Yet there are members of Congress who actually oppose more help for our longtime ally, either because (on the left) they think the U.S.-backed International Monetary Fund's cure is worse than the disease, or (on the right) they think the disease will cure itself if only the market system is left alone.